What follows was taken from the National Park Service Morning Report and serves as an example of the types of problems park rangers have to deal with on a daily basis. It is also an example or how you never know what you will run into each day.
Crater Lake NP
Man Arrested Following Violent Disturbance At Lodge
Park dispatch was contacted by Crater Lake Lodge staff around 6
p.m. on July 10th and advised that a man was causing a disturbance at the
service bar in the Great Hall, yelling at staff and visitors.
Chief Ranger Curt Dimmick responded. While en route, he learned
that the man had begun throwing things from the bar, including pitchers of
water, a sales computer, and a credit card printer. He was subsequently
advised that the man had also struck a visitor in the head with a crutch.
As he entered the Great Hall, Dimmick saw that the man, later
identified as Donald Taylor of Medford, Oregon, was standing in front of the
bar, leaning on a crutch and yelling obscenities at two employees. Taylor
immediately turned to Dimmick, started advancing across the room with the
crutch under his arm and began yelling “I am going to [expletive] kill
you! You are going to die tonight!”
Dimmick ordered Taylor to stop and get on the floor several times
as he advanced, repeatedly yelling the same threats. When Taylor was only a few
feet away and still refusing to stop, Dimmick used his taser to put him on the
floor. Ranger John Neumann soon arrived and handcuffed him.
There were about 50 visitors and Lodge staff present during the
incident. Lodge staff had cleared most of the people from the Great Hall and
secured the doors into the restaurant just beyond the bar to provide for the
safety of guests while lodge and restaurant managers had kept Taylor occupied,
waiting for rangers to arrive.
The man who was struck in the head with the crutch was a minister
who had attempted to talk to Taylor and calm him down. When the minister spoke
to him, Taylor first tried to spit in his face and then swung his crutch at the
minister’s head. The minister ducked, but the crutch still hit the top of
his head, causing a one inch laceration and contusion. The minister
declined medical treatment.
Rangers later located Taylor’s truck, which was parked immediately
in front of the lodge in the loading zone. Inside the truck were a loaded
.22 caliber rifle and an unloaded 7 mm. rifle with two dozen rounds of
ammunition.
Taylor was charged with assault, resisting or impeding an officer,
disorderly conduct and vandalism. Taylor did approximately $2500 in damage to
lodge property. On July 28th, Taylor pled guilty to all charges. His
sentencing is scheduled for September 2th. He has been in jail since the
incident.
The court has already ordered him to undergo a mental health
evaluation. He told the judge he was having a bad day and had too much to drink
after learning his ex-wife was trying to get sole custody of their son.
Rangers had prior contact with Taylor. Last November, he entered
the lodge after it was closed by entering a side door that may have been left
unlocked. He spent the night with his dog in one of the lodge’s rooms, where he
was found by concessioner maintenance staff the next morning. He was cited for
trespass at the time.
[Curt R. Dimmick, Chief Park Ranger]
No comments:
Post a Comment